Happy Ever After
Page 27
“No, I’m not thirsty,” she said as her gaze fell to her lap.
He tried to think of a nice enough way to say what needed to be said. Will took her hands into his and rubbed his fingertips over her knuckles. Her hands felt even colder now.
“Aurora, I think that you’re lost.” He danced around the truth a bit.
“No, I know where I am.” She looked into his face again. Her gaze unnerved him. The woman appeared terribly vulnerable.
“I mean that…you have lost your way home.”
“William, I don’t understand ye at all. I know where my father’s house is.”
He wished she’d pick up on his subtle way of saying the obvious. “By home, I mean to say, that you have lost your way to heaven.” That made even less sense—he could tell by the look on her face. “I think you did live here…a very long time ago. And…well…and you are no longer living.”
She did not react but sat calmly gazing at him as if he’d just said it was night time. “You’re dead,” he said plainly, squeezing her hands tight to emphasize his point.
“That’s rubbish. I can’t be dead. I’m here.” She shook her head. “Don’t ye think I’d remember dying?”
Aurora slid her hand free of Will’s and reached up, rubbing her palm against his bearded cheek. It felt good. There was a bit of heat in her touch.
“See, do ye not feel me? I feel ye.”
“Aye, I do,” he said, inhaling deep. Calm came to him as her soft skin rubbed against him.
“How can a dead person feel and be felt?” She stared deep into his eyes. Something sparked there and he felt a pull towards her. Will leaned in to her touch, her face now inches from his. “How can the dead kiss?” she asked before touching her soft lips to his.
At the subtle brush of lip upon lip, he felt a tingling sensation. “Did you feel that?”
“Oh, aye,” she replied with a sigh. “Are ye sure Angus is dead?”
“Why?”
“Because if he were not, ye and I would be in great danger.” Aurora pressed her forehead against Will’s.
He closed his eyes and savored her nearness. They sat in the dreamlike silence of the moment. Was she a ghost or was this a cruel dream? In Aurora’s presence, tranquility seeped into his soul. How could one person do this to him in so little time? Nothing about this situation made sense and reasoning it out proved even less sane.
“Hold me,” she said and he obliged without second thought. Will held her close and tucked the top of her head beneath his chin. He ran his hand through her long blonde locks and admired the silky texture.
“A Bean Nighe, an evil witch, told me Angus would be my death.” She spoke in a soft tone. “The old woman came to me at the shoreline and said I would fall in a deep sleep, never to marry Angus.” Aurora was quiet once more and Will waited for her to tell him the rest of the story.
Finally, he said, “It’s okay, you don’t have to tell me.”
“Yes, I think I do,” Aurora replied. She gazed up at him, her eyes moist with unshed tears. “I just feel so tired all of a sudden. Maybe I should lie down.” She pulled back from Will’s embrace. He rose to give her space, and she laid her head down on the mattress, using her arm as her pillow. “She told me I would fall asleep and that only one could wake me with loneliness...That makes no sense.”
Will sat back down beside her and ran his hand along the curve of her cheek. Loneliness—he’d felt that emotion all of his life, especially when his mother died. When father left them, he was angry, but he had his mother beside him.
“I’m lonely.” He voiced the thought unintentionally. For some reason, he felt the need to elaborate. “I live a life of solitude. A pirate doesn’t have many friends for long. The day my mother died was the day I started my lonesome journey through this world. I left this island thinking the riches I sought would bring me all I needed. But, until tonight, I never realized just how worthless the treasures all are. No matter what riches I have, they will not bring back my mother’s love.” That was the most honest speech he’d ever made, and it felt good to get the words spoken. It didn’t feel good to admit the emptiness though. In fact, most nights he drank himself to sleep when the memories became too much. Aurora placed her hand over his. Her touch was warmer still than before. “I’m sorry for ye loss. How long has she been gone?”
“Eleven years this winter.” He found it hard to believe that much time had passed. It seemed just yesterday when he tended her sick bed.
“What year is this?” she asked.
“Seventeen sixty-four.”
“My mother is long dead now too. How could almost four hundred years pass without me knowing?” He couldn’t imagine the feelings she experienced—waking up one night and realizing that the world you knew no longer existed. “Will, dawn will be here in a few hours. What do ye think will happen to me?” Aurora stared at the moonbeam coming through the glass window.
“Have you seen anyone before I came to you?” He tried to rationalize some reason for all of this.
“No.”
This was not promising. If the sun rose, would she disappear as she had that morning? “Where did you go this morning, after you saw me on the beach?”
Her brow knitted as she thought on his question. “I…I don’t know. I remember turning to walk away from ye, and then...then nothing.”
Nothing. That was very bad. “Nothing at all?”
“No. It was as if I fainted.”
“Hummm.” He really wanted to say damn, but that wouldn’t do them any good. So instead, he asked, “Do you remember exactly what that old hag said? Maybe it holds a clue to end this?”
Aurora rolled over onto her back and stared at the ceiling. Silence stretched as she closed her eyes and then she spoke. “Fair lady, fall ye will, sleep will claim thee, wedded ye will not be. One could wake ye, but loneliness of his heart must not prevail. Then ye may rise, hale with the sun.”
He thought on those words for a moment. Strange, but he knew he was the man she spoke of—Loneliness of his heart...Hale with the sun...
“Would you stay with me until the sun rises?” If he was right, this could all end for her tonight, and her life could begin again—with him.
“Aye.” She took his hand into hers. “If this is the last night I have here, I’d like to lay in yer arms.” Her cheeks turned pink with embarrassment. “I don’t want to die without at least knowing what it feels like to be held by another.”
It was a simple and genuine request. He’d hate to die alone, with no one to mourn him. Thinking about that, he realized that when he died, that was exactly how he’d leave this earth. There was not a soul who knew who he really was—well except for Aurora.
“Of course I will.” He lay down beside here and pulled her close. She placed her head on his shoulder and sighed.
“Ye know, I thought I would go to Heaven. Instead, I know not where I am or where I will be tomorrow.”
“Sure you do. You’ll be with me.” He hugged her tight to his chest and placed a gentle kiss to the crest of her head.
“Do ye ever think of what yer life will be? I mean to say, ye have all these chests piled up—what are ye going to do with it all?”
“Honestly, I don’t know. There are a great deal many things I could do.” She began to rub the palm of her hand on his chest. The subtle sensation distracted him. He could think of several things he’d like to do on the morrow if she remained in his life. “What would you do with it?”
“Me? I’ve never had more than a few coins to myself. If I were ye though, there is a great deal many things I could think to do. Look at this castle—ye own it, but do ye take any pride in it? I say I would repair it. That would require some craftsmen to live here on the island for a great deal of time. Offering them each a small parcel of land may temp them to work more diligently. Or at least the men of my time would have taken ye offer up.” She nodded her head. “Aye, if I were ye, that’s what I’d do—make this place honorable once mor
e, make it a home to be proud of.”
“But what good is a home without a family? That’s why I left in the first place. Without loving people to keep you company, a home turns into a prison.” Will ran his fingers through her long blonde hair. He inhaled her essence and considered a life with her. In his mind, he’d already decided it was the life he wanted.
“Ye should find a good woman and live out yer life to the fullest,” she said in a low tone that mirrored a whisper.
“What if I said I’d already found a good woman to build my home with?”
Her breathing stilled. Did she understand his meaning? The movement of her hand slowed to a stop.
“The moonlight is fading,” she whispered.
“Aurora,” he reached down and titled her chin up so he could look into her glorious eyes. His nerves clenched his stomach with the words he longed to say, ready to spring forth, “Stay here with me. Forget the world you came from and start the day anew with me.”
A lone tear slipped down her cheek as he spoke and he brushed it away with the pad of his thumb, hoping it was a tear of happiness. “Let me release you, my sleeping beauty.”
“And if I disappear again?” Her bottom lip quivered.
“Say you’ll stay, and I promise to never let you go into the day alone again.”
“Those sound like vows, Will.”
“Aye, they do. All we need now is for you to speak yours.” He intertwined his fingers with hers. Everything about this was strangely right. He’d walked through life alone, missing something he never knew. Now, as he held her hand in his, he knew exactly what his life needed—her. Aurora—ironic that her name’s meaning and her curse interrelated.
“Will, I will ever remain by yer side and warm yer nights.”
They leaned into one another and sealed their vows with a kiss—one that spoke of their honest intent and flourishing love. The first fingers of dawn’s rays came through the stained glass window and cast a rosy shadow upon the Celtic cross on the ceiling. A burst of golden glitter showered down up them, but they barely noticed anything beyond each other. The rest of their lives would start today, and forever would Will remember the night he found his sleeping booty.
About Ava James
Ava James is an avid writer and reader of everything romance. She lives near the ‘Gateway to the West’ with her husband, their English bulldog and two cats. Marrying her high school sweetheart, she is a hopeless romantic. Can’t you tell already? You can find Ms. James at avajames.weebly.com and avajamesromance.blogspot.com.
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Table of Contents
Emet
Red Smoke
The Goose Girl
Black and Gold
The Little Mermaid
Jack and the Beanstalk
Annie and the Young Master
Re-Write
The Lothian Farmer
A Lover for Cach é
The Sleeping Booty